HP Still Tops PC List, but Acer Is the Big Climber

HP still dominates the global PC market - which took a baby step toward recovery during the second quarter - but third-ranking Acer showed the most significant growth, racing ahead onto the heels of a beleaguered, second-ranking Dell.

The PC market, while not yet in full recovery mode, took "one small step
away from the abyss" in the second quarter of 2009, according to a Sept. 11
report from market research firm iSuppli.

The second quarter saw global shipments of 67.2 million units. While down 4.3
percent from the 70.2 million units that shipped during the second quarter of
2008, it was a gain of 1 percent from the 66.5 million units shipped during the
first quarter of the year. Desktops continued their decline, and the growth,
which is expected to continue, came courtesy of notebook sales, said Matthew
Wilkins, an iSuppli principal analyst, in a statement.

"iSuppli predicts continued sequential growth in the third and fourth quarters,
driven by the slow improvement in the worldwide economy, along with the arrival
of technology drivers, such as [Microsoft's] new client operating system,
Windows 7," said Wilkins. "However, this growth had been expected and doesn't
change iSuppli's forecast of a 4 percent decline in global PC shipments for the
full year of 2009."

Hewlett-Packard was again the market share leader this quarter, a position it
has maintained for 12 consecutive quarters, according to iSuppli. HP saw 2.1
percent year-to-year growth, with shipments rising from 13.1 million in the
second quarter of 2008 to 13.4 million in the second quarter of 2009.

"Hewlett-Packard not only is maintaining its leadership position but is also
gaining market share due to its robust notebook PC business, which has outgrown
the overall notebook segment for the past two quarters," said Wilkins.

"Acer's rise is due to another strong performance from its notebook PC
business, clearly capitalizing on the demand for mobile computing," said
Wilkins. "Meanwhile, Dell continues to suffer because of the weakness in the
corporate market, despite showing improvements in its consumer business."

The No. 4 PC performer for the quarter was Lenovo, which shipped 5.6 million
units during the quarter, for a growth of 1.3 percent from the previous year.
Fifth place Toshiba grew 4 percent year-to-year and shipped 3.3 million units
during the second quarter.

Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.